72% of Nonprofits Rate Their Taglines Poorly, or Don’t Have One at All

I’m hard at work mining the wealth of data from the Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Survey, and can’t believe so many organizations are missing out on this powerful tool.

Get this. Of the more than 1,870 organizations that participated, 72% of them can’t count on their tagline to cut through the clutter, serving as an effective introduction and invitation to find out more.

Believe me, in this age of decreased attention spans and information overload — which will only get worse — cutting through the noise with a succinct phrase is a must.

Here’s how the stats break out:

28% of organizations surveyed don’t have a tagline at all.

58% of nonprofits with a tagline in use gauge that tagline to be "not effective" or only "somewhat effective."

That’s a pretty poor showing, nonprofit marketers. Many of you lament that your leadership or colleagues are scornful of tagline impact, so don’t even bother, or just in the dark ages so don’t reevaluate what may have been around for years.

Think about it. Your tagline is seen more than any other 5 to 8 words you communicate. It’s on business cards, email signatures, signage, online and print communications and more.

A bad tagline, or none at all, is a huge missed opportunity. I urge you to close that gap. Now.

P.S. The rich survey data means that the report is taking longer than expected, and will be published in July.